Sept. 19. 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



605 



iirtwliive; but wlia( were left, after takiiif;- 

 •lit all the combs, I brushed dIT in front of 

 i.he new hive. 



1 paid no attention to the qu reus, as each 

 txix-hive colony had a laying f|ueen. 1 left 

 ihat to the bees to regulate. 



By uniting the two colonies I had a hive 

 junning over with bees, and more comb than 

 the brood-chamber of the new hive would 

 hold, so I got a super and tilled it with the 

 I'emaining comi). There were no supers to 

 either of the box-hives, and each had eight 

 combs fastened to eight slats laid like frames 

 in the box-hives, but were without bottoms 

 •r end-pieces —merely the top of a frame. 



Of course I found considerable crooked 

 <-omb, and had to fasten some pieces of comb 

 in the frames of the new hive. This is a 

 mighty sticky, messy job. If one is not 

 patient and capaole of using good judgment 

 he is very apt to make an ugly job of it. 



I will say for the benefit of others who may 

 have had less experience than myself, that 

 the best time of all to transfer bees into a 

 new hive is the first of the swarming season, 

 when the combs are light and mostly empty. 

 But I am so much opposed to little, weak 

 colonies that I was willing to double them 

 up, even at a risk of failure, in order to fix 

 them better for winter. However, many bee- 

 men are opposed to uniting weak colonies on 

 the ground that after being united they may 

 noon become as one weak colony at last, un- 

 less the queen keeps up the numbers, which 

 she is not likely to do, and in the end you 

 will have only one ordinary colony, where 

 you had two that miijlii have built up to be 

 •rdinary colonies. 



I find that my two colonies united peace- 

 jibly, without smoking them, and have gone 

 nicely to work as one powerful colony. 



John Kenneht. 



.\dams Co., Miss., Aug. S. 



Report for the Season of 1901. 



i put into winter r;{ colonies, and last 

 spring I had about .")0 good, bad, and indiffer- 

 ent. It was the worst spring on bees of any 

 in my experience, which dates back to 189^. 



From 5(0 colonies, or thereabouts, I secured 

 ibout 3000 pounds of honey, nearly all comb, 

 »nd increased to 6!i colonies. Less then 20 

 percent of my comb-honey colonies swarmed, 

 though this was a great year for swarms for 

 most bee-keepers here. 



The prospects are that bees will go into 

 winter in good condition, though the pros- 

 pects for next year are very poor, on account 

 of the drouth which still continues. 



E. S. Mii.ES. 



I'rawford Co.. town, Aug. 'J3. 



Mulberry Growing. 



Will Dr. Peiro give answers to the follow- 

 ini^ questions in the American Bee Journal '. 



1. How large do mulberry trees become as 

 lo height and spread ' 



2. How long from mailable or expressable 

 sapling to fruiting ? 



3. Is the white variety better than the 

 black ? Is there a difference in hardiness ? 



4. Is " Russian " mulberry the right name ; 

 I can find other names of white varieties, but 

 no " Russian.'' 



5. Is any kind better adapted to dry i>laces 

 than others ? 



fi. Is it liable to attacks of any pests ; 



7. Do bees work on the blossoms ? 



S. Cyclopedia says it is closely related to 

 figs. Has it similarly enclosed numerous 

 seeds, the " fruit" being the fleshy receptacle * 



Monterey Co., Calif. A. Norton. 



Dr. Peiro has kindly replied to .Mr. Norton's 

 questions as follows: 



1. Black mulberry trees grow to 'iO inches 

 in diameter, while the white variety does not 

 attain so large dimensions, to my knowledge. 

 Both spread broadly. 



■-'. They bear fruit in about five years from 

 <>-foot trees (expressable). inch diameter. 



4. The white variety is licst at lioney-pro- 

 ducing, being much sweeter than the black, 

 f believe both varieties to be equally hardy. 



1. " Russian " is the usually accepted name 

 for the while. It may only be derived from 



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13A26t Please mention the Bee Journal. 



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We will mail one of the above queens 

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Please do not conflict the above offer 

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its on paoily to withstand exlrenie cold with- 

 utit iimlcrial injury. 



1 1 liilicvc the various kinds are equally 

 luii^cly ill dry localities. 



(i. I know of no insects that seriously in- 

 fest the mulberry. It is clean and apparently 

 free from diseases. 



7. I do not know that liees work on its 

 minute blossoms. 1 would not depend upon 

 its possibilities. 



S. Yes, the mulberry is not remotely allied 

 to the tig, in general growth, resemblance of 

 leaves, and minute size of its seeds. The 

 Havor of the white mulberry is more like that 

 of tig than the black, though this may not be 

 apparent to all tastes. 



Finally, the cheapest way (and it seems to 

 nie, the best) is to insert cuttings into places 

 •*here you wish them to root and remain. 

 This should be done in .luly or early in 

 August. Du. Peibo. 



Bees and Mathematics. 



The construction of geometrically perfect 

 oells is not the only mathematical operation 

 performed by bees, according to Abraham 

 Netter. who read a very interesting paper 

 on the subject liefore the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences. The Revue Scieutitique reports 

 that he brought out the following facts: 



■■ Not only is the construction of the cells 

 carried on by mathematical rule, but many 

 operations of the insects also; for instance, 

 the collection of the maximum amount of 

 honey in the minimum time, and the division 

 of the workers among the plants propor- 

 tionally to the number (if plants of the same 

 species. In the hives, the number of bees 

 engaged in ventilation is almost rigorously 

 proportional to the daily increase of weight 

 of honey, etc. Facts of this order relate to 

 arithmetical proportion, while those having 

 to do with cell-building relate to geometric 

 ratios." 



M. Netter is of the opiniou, however, in 

 spite of this show of apparent intelligence on 

 the part of the bees, that " all their move- 

 ments, without exception, are of the nature 

 of retlexes;" that is, performed without con- 

 sciousiaetion, just as we close our eyes in- 

 stinctively when a motion is made toward 

 them. — Translation made for the Literary 

 Digest. 



" Reviewlets " from the Bee. Keepers' 

 Review. 



Bee-Escapes should be placed at the cor- 

 ner of the board instead of the center. Mr. 

 .1. B. Hall, of Ontario, says that the bees race 

 around the edges of the board in their efforts 

 to escape. 



Ontahio, Canada, lias a good crop of honey 

 tlii.s year. I think that 7.t pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey per colony would Ije a safe 

 estimate; although many report a yield of 

 lui) pounds, and H. ti. Sibbald secured an 

 average of 1.5ii pounds from three yards. 



WiuE-Ci.oTH supports for the combs are 

 used ))y F. A. (iemmill. of Ontario, in the 

 solar wax-extractor. Wire-cloth is tacked 

 upon frames laid over the metal bottom of the 

 extractor, and then refuse combs laid upon 

 the wire-clotli. The wire-cloth catches and 

 holds mo.-t of the co<'Oons, etc., and prevents 

 them from running down in the wax. 



J. B. Hai.i. likes to have each colony occupy 

 the same stand year after year ; as it ia much 

 easier to reiiieinher the characteristics of a 

 colony that always stands in the same place. 

 This is one reason why he is particular, when 

 taking the bees from the cellar, to iilace each 

 colony upon its old stand. 



Fofi, BuouM can be treated late in the 

 season, after brood-rearing has ceased, by 

 shaking the bees off upon sealed combs of 

 honey. What little infected honey ihcy carry 

 with them will all be consumed in a short 

 time— long liefore brood-rearing will again be 



